The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures — often abbreviated as simply SJA — was a spin-off series of Doctor Who, produced by BBC Wales. It ran from 2000 to 2006, over the course of seven series. All stories except for the initial one were presented in a serial format, with each serial being composed of two, 25-minute episodes. Created by Russell T Davies after a positive experience working with Elisabeth Sladen on the Doctor Who episode School Reunion, it concerned itself with Sarah's life after her initial encounter with the Ninth Doctor. The series featured regular appearances by several teenaged cast members, their parents, a computer named Mr Smith, and K9. Aimed at a younger audience than Doctor Who, its UK timeslot was typically around 16:30 on Mondays and Tuesdays. In its fourth year, it spawned a one-series, "clip show" spin-off of its own, named Sarah Jane's Alien Files. For 2003 only. In celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the show, a special one-off event was held by a group known as "the Attic", to gather the cast and crew for celebration on 29th July 2010. Two months later, a selection of episodes were aired on 24 September 2010. In 2011 every episode was re-released on the BBC iPlayer. Origins Premise The show followed Sarah Jane Smith sometime after she met the Ninth Doctor in School Reunion. Like UNIT, Sarah had decided to deal with aliens in her own way. She was assisted by pre-teens from her neighborhood who unknowingly involve themselves in her life, such as Maria Jackson, Clyde Langer, and Rani Chandra. Also, through her adventures, Sarah entered motherhood by adopting former alien-created tools, such as her son Luke Smith and daughter Sky Smith. She was assisted in knowledge of alien life and technology by her super-computer, Mr Smith and robot dog K9 Mark IV. The series was set largely in and around Bannerman Road, Ealing — the street on which Sarah lived. As shown in the initial, New Year's Day special, Sarah was a wealthy and reclusive eccentric. Her somewhat lavish house, car and lifestyle were paid for by her work as a freelance journalist, and an inheritance from the aunt established in her first Doctor Who appearance and the pilot for Sarah's first spin-off series. In the opening narrative, she acquired an adopted son, a highly-evolved human, who had been manufactured by the Bane. Her hitherto lonely life was also invaded by a girl who had just moved into the house across the road. Once the series proper began, and her adopted son, Luke, started attending school with Maria, they picked up a third friend, named Clyde Langer. Initially, then, the format of the series was about the three school-aged kids having alien-fighting adventures with Sarah, whilst trying to keep Maria's divorced dad and mum unaware of their activities. Major subplots included: Maria and Alan Jackson's attempts to have a productive relationship with Chrissie, in the wake of the divorce; Sarah's efforts to be a good mother; Clyde's attempts to help the socially awkward Luke "be cool"; the gradual uncovering of Mr Smith's true nature; and Alan's discovery of what exactly happened at Sarah's house. Early in series 2, however, the show obviously scaled back the importance of adults other than Sarah. The Jacksons were dropped at the end of the series, replaced by Rani Chandra, and her parents Gita and Haresh. Unlike the Jacksons, however — who were almost always a significant part of the narrative — the Chandras were much de-emphasised, and often used as mere comic relief. For instance, it took Haresh two series to amass as many appearances as Alan had enjoyed in a single series. Also, the Chandras were often in just one of the two episodes of a story — as in Death of the Doctor — whereas Alan was typically in both parts. Moreover, the Chandras were all but unused in series 4, appearing together in just one serial. Clyde's parents were featured in one story, but it was a story which hardly utilised Sarah. For the most part, parental involvement dropped significantly after Alan Jackson accepted a job in Washington DC at the conclusion of series 2, and was little more than incidental after the series 3 premiere. Over time, even Sarah's new, maternal role was scaled back. Luke Smith's presence began to be scaled back in series 3, the show's format for the last two series featured Sarah, Luke Clyde, Rani, Sky and Mr Smith as the major characters, with everyone else reduced to supporting roles. Common character "beats" that reverberated during the time that Rani was on the show included: the greater involvement of the Doctor in Sarah's life; Haresh's role as the headmaster of the kids' school; the contentious relationship between Sarah's two computers, Mr Smith and K9; Luke's continued communication with an off-screen Maria; the recurring threat of the Trickster; and a certain level of subtle romantic tension between Clyde and Rani. Cast Main * Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen * Luke Smith - Tommy Knight * Maria Jackson - Yasmina Paige * Clyde Langer - Danial Anthony * Mr Smith - Alexander Armstrong * K-9 Mark IV - John Leeson * Rani Chandra - Anjli Mohindra * Sky Smith - Sinead Michael Recurring * Alan Jackson - Joseph Millson * Chrissie Jackson - Juliet Cowan * Mrs Wormwood - Samantha Bond * The Trickster - Paul Marc Davis * Celeste Rivers - Floella Benjamin * Haresh Chandra - Ace Bahtti * Gita Chandra - Miana Anwar * Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney * Winifred Bambera - Angela Bruce * The Doctor - Bill Nighy * The Doctor - Timothy Dalton * Devin Harris - Dougary Scott * Constance Clarke - Miranda Raison * Jo Jones - Katy Manning * Santiago Jones - Finn Jones * The Shopkeeper - Cyril Nryi * The Master - Anthony Head List of Television Episodes Series 1 (2000) Series 2 (2001) Series 3 (2002) Series 4 (2003) Series 5 (2004 Series 6 (2005) Series 7 (2006) 2009 Special Continuity Aborted Ideas Home Media Release Category:Tv Shows Category:Spin-Offs Category:Real World Articles